How can my fiancee change her name?

September 20, 2007 2:11 AM

Where can I find U.S. laws regarding name change after marriage? More specifically, my Japanese fiancee wants to keep her Japanese family name...what agency can I contact to question about this?

This is kind of complicated, but here are the basics: I'm American (male), and I'm marrying a Japanese (female). My fiancee is undertaking steps so that she can keep her Japanese family name as well as take on my family name after we are married. In other words, her family name would be a middle name, or a hypenated family name.

As Japanese don't have middle names, and love bureaucracy, she has to jump through some hoops to get this done. The latest one is that she needs proof from a US govt. agency (as in a law) that it is OK for her to keep her Jap. family name. We live in Japan now and are planning to move to the US sometime in the future, and I guess the office wants to confirm this is possible.

In short, where can I find rules for US foreign nationals (or not-yet nationals) to change names?

posted by zardoz to law & government (6 comments total)

This might be a good start.

Pertinent passage:

State laws can regulate name changes in the United States; still, they cannot altogether forbid common law name changes. Several specific federal court rulings have set precedents regarding both court decreed name changes and common law name changes (changing your name "at will").

* One may be employed, do business, and enter into other contracts, and sue and be sued under any name they choose at will (Lindon v. First National Bank 10 F. 894, Coppage v. Kansas 236 US 1, In re McUlta 189 F. 250).

* Such a change carries the exact same legal weight as a court decreed name change as long as it is not done with fraudulent intent (In re McUlta 189 F. 250, Christianson v. King County 196 F. 791, United States v. McKay 2 F.2d 257).

* This at will right is guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution, specifically the Fourteenth Amendment (Jech v. Burch 466 F.Supp. 714).

The federal courts have overwhelmingly ruled that changing one's name at will, by common law, is clearly one's Constitutional right. Nonetheless, one may still choose to have a court issued name change.

Usually a person can adopt any name desired for any reason; most states allow one to legally change their name by usage only[1]. There are differences in specific requirements among U.S. states, and usually a court order is the most efficient way to change names (which would be applied for in a state court). It is necessary to plead that the name change is not for a fraudulent or other illegal purpose (such as evading a lien or debt, or for defaming someone).
posted by Happy Dave at 2:41 AM on September 20, 2007 [2 favorites]

Oh, and here we go:

Under the federal immigration and nationality law, when aliens apply for naturalization, they have the option of asking for their names to be changed upon the grant of citizenship with no additional fees. This allows them the opportunity to adopt a more Americanized name. In the 2005 version of Form N-400--Application for Naturalization--Part 1 (D) asks whether the person applying for naturalization would like to legally change his or her name. During the naturalization interview, a petition for name change is prepared to be forwarded to a federal court. The applicant certifies that he or she is not seeking a change of name for any unlawful purpose such as the avoidance of debt or evasion of law enforcement. Such a name change becomes final once a federal court naturalizes an applicant.
posted by Happy Dave at 2:42 AM on September 20, 2007

From what my wife and I discovered (I took her maiden name as a second middle name, and she added my last name so she has two last names), it's done on a state-by-state basis.

In some (many?) states (in our case, California), it's a lot easier for a woman to change her name; go to DMV with the marriage certificate, and they'll give you a DL with any name that's reasonable. Likewise for the Social Security Administration. For men, the SSA is just as reasonable, but the state requires a legal name change (a huge hassle).

I guess the executive summary is that the Social Security Administration (which may or may not be relevant; does she have a SS#?) just requires a marriage certificate, while other documents vary from stae to state.
posted by JMOZ at 5:09 AM on September 20, 2007

Many states' wedding license applications -- New York's for example -- have a helpful statement of the state's law on name changes at marriage. (New York's is helpfully comprehensive: either spouse can take the other's name, either spouse can keep their prior name, and both can change their name to the same entirely new shared name).

You could download a blank application of your relevant state, print it out, and supply it to the Japanese government as the evidence they seek. The New York website has the same content, but might not be official enough.

The federal government may not have such an easy document -- after all, as a general matter, anything that is not prohibited is permitted, so there isn't a big reason to print lists of things that you are allowed to do.
posted by MattD at 9:43 AM on September 20, 2007

My office one time had to handle a similar request in a different context. We needed some kind of proof for the U.S. government that certain persons were the lawful heirs of a deceased Japanese person under Japanese law. In that case the U.S. goverment was satisfied by a legal opinion from a Japanese lawyer, notarized and legalized.

A legal opinion with the appropriate fancy seals from a US lawyer might be effective in your case.
posted by JimN2TAW at 11:58 AM on September 20, 2007

Thanks, everyone, for the answers. They are all "best answer"!
posted by zardoz at 6:24 PM on September 20, 2007